


Wilder-less

by Rina_san28



Series: Pride Month 2018 [18]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Disabled Character, Dwarves in the Shire, Lore - Freeform, M/M, Old Forest (Tolkien), pride 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-21
Updated: 2018-06-21
Packaged: 2019-05-26 06:49:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14995184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rina_san28/pseuds/Rina_san28
Summary: In which Bilbo bestows knowledge on Thorin, who likes trees even less now than he did before.Written for Pride Month 2018 Day 20: Wilderness





	Wilder-less

Thorin sighed, stretching leisurely from his spot on the picnic blanket. His husband, ever in need of _something_ to do, had insisted on taking what he called a “walking holiday.” It wasn’t a very grand trip, not in comparison to what they’d done in the past, but it certainly was exercise. Exercise, he reflected, that he and his leg did not agree on.

 

“Hello there, sleepy-head,” Bilbo said gently, teasingly, as he ran a hand through Thorin’s hair. “You had a nice nap. Feeling up to the trip back?”

 

The dwarf hummed deep in his throat. “I suppose,” he said, his voice rough from sleep. “I imagine my burglar is quite hungry by now.” On cue, Bilbo’s stomach let out a loud rumble. Thorin laughed. “Yes, that would be the dinner bell.”

 

“Why, you – Thorin!” Bilbo squawked. “Rude!”

 

“But true,” he said cheerfully. He stood gingerly testing his leg before putting weight on it. “Come now, _ghivashelê._ We’ve got quite a journey ahead of us, by hobbit standards.”

 

“Do you ever think before you speak?” Bilbo asked, but smiled nonetheless. Packing up their picnic spot only took a moment, and then they were off, arm-in-arm as always.

 

“Bilbo,” Thorin said after a moment, “why doesn’t anyone go to those woods?” He pointed at the tall, tall trees looming behind them. “I’d think that for a people who love nature so much, you would flutter though that forest like birds.”

 

To his surprise, Bilbo shuddered. “No, no,” the hobbit said. “It is best by far to keep away from there. That’s the Old Forest.”

 

“…And?” Thorin asked when no further explanation came. “I know many old forests, and those are easily traveled.”

 

“It’s…complicated.” Bilbo paused, and when he spoke again, his voice was that of a professor. “The Old Forest is, in a manner of speaking, alive. Not in the way of regular forests, however. This one is, ah, hostile.”

 

“Like the Mirkwood?” Thorin said, frowning.

 

“Not quite,” Bilbo said. “Mirkwood is sick, and that sickness is infecting its inhabitants. This forest has always been alive. Worse, it _moves_. They say that once morning, the Bucklanders looked up and the whole edge of the forest was standing right on their doorsteps!”

 

Thorin frowned deeper, disturbed. “Did it harm them?”

 

“They didn’t give it a chance. They cut down and burned all of the trees which had left their proper place. Since then, the Old Forest has only gotten worse. Uncle Isembold Took tried to cut through there once, but as he tells it, the paths changed four times and spit him back out the way he came, though he never took a single turn! Only one has ever been known to live there.”

 

“Someone _lives_ there?” Thorin asked incredulously, glancing back at the trees again.

 

“Indeed,” Bilbo hummed. “Perhaps lived. Few have seen him, but many have heard of him. He goes by Tom Bombadil. Could be a myth, mind you.”

 

“In my experience, little is actually myth,” Thorin said. He tugged his husband closer as they entered Hobbiton proper. “I think that is one wilderness we shall keep away from, hmm?”

 

“Most certainly, dear,” Bilbo said, happily snuggling closer. “Certainly indeed.”

**Author's Note:**

> All stated things about the Old Forest are true! Scary, scary place, that is. The one exception is Isembold Took's journey there. While Isembold is one of Bilbo's uncles, there is no evidence to suggest that he did anything as foolhardy in his youth as trying to travel through the Old Forest. 
> 
> In case you can't tell, the section about the Old Forest TERRIFIED me when I read the book. I don't like forests. 
> 
> I'm rina-san28 on Tumblr!


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